Refrigerator cabinet construction



Oct 1957 LE ROY R. PATTERSON, JR 2,808,310

REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed Aug. 10, 1954 FIG. I

FIG. 4 2| INVEN TOR. LE ROY R. PATTERSON. JR.

HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION LeRoy R. Patterson, Jr., Erie, Pa., assignor to General The presentinvention relates to a refrigerator cabinet construction and moreparticularly to a door-supported container for a refrigerator cabinet.

In the modern household refrigerator, article supporting means in theform of shelves or containers are mounted both on the walls of thecabinet and on the inner wall of the door closing the access opening tothe cabinet. In order to obtain maximum use of the total storage volumeof the refrigerator, the shelves supported within the cabinet areordinarily placed so close together that the upper shelf or shelves tendto block access to articles placed on the lower shelves. To avoid thisdifficulty with regards to the cabinet shelves, the cabinet shelvingarrangement may comprise a plurality of stepped shelves mounted oneabove another with each shelf being less in depth than the shelf nextbelow. Such an arrangement is described and claimed in the co-pendingapplication of George C. Harbison Serial No. 411,463, filed February 19,1954, now Patent No. 2,776,866, granted January 8, 1957, and assigned tothe same assignee as the present invention.

While this stepped arrangement of the cabinet shelves provides greateraccessibility as to articles placed on the lower cabinet shelves, itpresents the additional problem of effectively using the portion of thestorage volume or space made available because of the shortening of theupper cabinet shelf or shelves. In order to utilize this volume or spacethe article supporting members supported on the refrigerator door mayalso be arranged in a stepped relationship which is the reverse of thatof the cabinet shelves so that, when the door is closed, each of thedoormounted supporting members extend into the refrigerator cabinet to apoint adjacent the edge of the cabinet shelf opposite thereto. Howeverwith such an arrangement of the door-mounted supporting members in whichan upper member is of greater depth than the member next below it,articles stored on a lower article supporting member may be renderedeven less accessible than would be the case if all of the door storagemembers were of the same depth due to the overhang of the next highersupporting member.

It is therefore a primary object of the invention to provide arefrigerator cabinet door having a plurality of article supportingmembers mounted thereon including means for supporting one or more ofthe lower containers on the door for movement from a normal storageposition beneath the next higher container to an open or acces sibleposition.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds and the features of the novelty whichcharacterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

In carrying out the objects of this invention there is provided arefrigerator cabinet having an access opening and a door for closing theopening. Mounted on the inner wall of the door are a plurality ofarticle supporting members or containers adapted to extend into thecabinet "ice when the door is closed. At least one of the lowerdoormounted containers is pivotally mounted on the inner wall of thedoor for movement between a normal storage position adjacent both theinner wall of the door and the next higher member to a second positionspaced forwardly from the inner wall and downwardly away from the nexthigher member for ready access to the contents of the container.

For a better understanding of the present invention reference may be hadto the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is a fragmentary verticalsectional view of a refrigerator incorporating an embodiment of thepresent invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of Fig. 2 with thecontainer of the present invention in a storage position;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the container in a secondposition; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 with the container titlted forwardlyto a fully accessible position.

Referring now to Fig. 1, there is shown a refrigerator 1 comprising acabinet 2 defined by an inner liner or wall 3. The cabinet 2 isthermally insulated from the surrounding room by means of insulation 4positioned between the liner 3 and an outer panel or wall 5 of therefrigerator. The cabinet or compartment 2 is refrigerated by means ofan evaporator 6 which is fed with refrigerant from a refrigerating unit(not shown). Access to the cabinet 2 is obtained through an opening 9which is closed by means of a door 10. The door 10 is hinged to thecabinet so as to swing open and shut and has a gasket 11 mounted thereonfor effectively sealing the opening 9 when the door is closed. The door,like the cabinet, comprises two spaced walls with the space between theinner wall 12 and the outer wall 13 being filled with insulation 14. Toprovide maximum storage space within the refrigerator, the inner wall 12may be provided with a large center recess 15. The article supportingmembers in the form of shelves, drawers, containers or the like arearranged both within the cabinet 2 and on the inner wall 12 of the doorin stepped arrangement as is described more fully in the above-mentionedHarbison application. For example there may be provided within thecabinet 2, one or more slidable drawers at the bottom of the cabinet anda plurality of shelves, such as shelves 17 and 18, above the drawers.The shelves are of different depth and are stepped upwardly; that is,each shelf is less in depth than the one next below it. By thisarrangement a given shelf does not block or extend over the frontportion of the shelf next below it so that it is much easier to removefrom the lower shelf articles stored on the front portion thereof aswell as articles stored somewhat rearwardly thereof.

Since the stepped shelves do not make full use of the storage volume ofthe cabinet 2, there are also provided article supporting members orcontainers mounted on the inner wall 12 of the door 1!) which preferablycooperate with the stepped shelves in the storage cabinet so thatsubstantially no storage space is lost as a result of the stepped shelfconfiguration within the cabinet 2. In the embodiment shown in Fig. l ofthe drawing, the supporting members mounted on the door comprise a firstor lower storage container 20 positioned opposite the shelf 17 and asecond container 21 positioned above the first container 20 and oppositethe shelf 18. These doormounted containers are stepped in the reverseddirection to the shelves within the cabinet so that the upper container21 extends into the cabinet somewhat further than the container 20 whichis located next below it. In other words the corresponding door-mountedcontainers and cabinet shelves are complementary in that shelf 18 andcontainer 21 form a storage level extending substantially across thestorage space within the cabinet 2 while shelf 17 and the container 2form a second level extending substantially across the storage space.

Since the upper article supporting member or container 21 on the door issufficiently accessible when the door is open, this container may befixedly or rigidly mounted on the inner wall 12 of the refrigeratordoor. However as the container 20 is of a depth substantially less thanthe upper container 21 to provide for the greater depth of the shelf 17opposite container 20, means are provided for mounting the container 20on the door'recess in such a manner that it can be moved from a normalstorage position beneath container 21 as shown in Fig. 3 to anaccessible position in which it is free of the overhang of the uppercontainer 21.

The supporting arrangement for the container provided in accordance withthe present invention and its operational features are illustrated ingreater detail in Figs. 3, 4, and 5.

In the illustrated embodiment, the container 20 is pivotally mounted ateach end thereof on the inner wall 12 of the door by a pair of parallellinks 25 and 26 pivotally connected at their upper ends to the end wall27 of the container and at their lower ends to a bracket 28 extendinghorizontally from the inner wall 12 and secured thereto by means of asuitable fastener 29. Links 25 and 26, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, areconnected to the container at some point above the center of gravity ofthe container. To maintain the container 20 in the storage position asshown in Fig. 3 with the rear wall 30 thereof adjacent the inner wall12, the supporting means is so arranged that when the container 20 is inthe storage position, 'the parallel links 25 and 26 extend upwardly fromthe bracket 28 and slightly overcenter in the direction of the innerwall 12. A suitable spring catch 32 secured to the inner wall 12 andadapted to engage the upper edge of the rear wall 30 of the containermay also be employed to prevent accidental dislodgment of the container20 from its storage position.

By means of this supporting arrangement for the container 20, thecontainer can be moved forwardly and downwardly away from the bottomwall of the container 21 and to a position in which it is readilyaccessible. To limit the downward movement of the container and tosupport it in the accessible position, there are provided suitable stopmeans which in the illustrated modification include a stop 34 lancedfrom the bracket 28 and adapted to engage the link 25 in the horizontalposition as shown in Fig. 4 and a second stop 35 similarly provided onthe bracket 28 for engaging the projection 36 on the link 26 when thislink is in its horizontal position. To increase the accessibility of theinterior of the container 2% means may also be provided for tilting thecontainer forwardly when in its lowered position. This tilting actionmay be accomplished by providing a pivotal connection between the link25 and the end wall 27 of the container which includes a slot 37 thatslidably receives the pin 38 connecting the link 25 to the side wall 27.

To avoid any tendency for the container to tilt when it is in thestorage position shown in Fig. 3, the pivotal connection 41 of the link26 to the container wall 27 is well forward of the center of gravity ofthe container. Thus with the center of gravity to the rear or to theleft of the pivotal connection 41, the container normally tends tomaintain itself in a horizontal position.

A handle extending forwardly from the upper front edge of the container20 and terminating adjacent the forward portion of the fixed container21 provides means for moving .the container 20 from its storage positionto its access position and for tilting the container forward? If desiredan apron 42 may be provided at each end of the container 20 extendingoutwardly from the end wall 27 and then downwardly to cover thecontainer sup porting means.

From the above it will be seen that there has been provided forparticular use with stepped cabinet shelves a door-mounted containersupported beneath a much deeper door container and including pivotalsupporting means which permit movement of the pivoted container from astorage position adjacent the inner wall of the refrigerator doorbeneath and closely adjacent the bottom of the second container to anaccess position spaced downwardly from the fixed container and forwardlyfrom the inner wall with additional means whereby the container can bepivoted or tilted about an axis forward of its center of gravity furtherto increase its accessibility.

While there has been shown and described a specific embodiment of theinvention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited tothe particular construction shown and described, and it is intended, bythe appended claims, to cover all modifications within the spirit andscope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is: i

l. A refrigerator cabinet including an access opening and a door forclosing said opening and including an inner wall, a plurality of storagecontainers mounted on said inner wall one above another, and including afirst container positioned beneath a second relatively wider container,means for pivotally supporting said first container on said inner wallfor movement between a storage position adjacent said inner wall withthe top of said first container beneath and closely adjacent the bottomof said second container and an access position spaced downwardly fromsaid second container and forwardly from said inner wall, saidsupporting means including a bracket secured to said inner door, stopmeans on said bracket, a pair of parallel links pivotally connecting anend wall of said first container to said bracket, said links beingconnected to said first container above the center of gravity of saidcontainer and arranged so that when said first container is in saidstorage position said links extend upwardly from said bracket andslightly over-center in the'direction of said inner' wall, said linksextending horizontally forward from said inner wall and in contact withsaid stop means when said first container is in the access position, oneof said links being pivotally connected to said first container forwardof the center of gravity of said container, the pivotal connection ofthe other of said links to said container including a slot in said endwall of said container to permit limited forward tilting of said firstcontainer about the pivotal connection of said one of said first linksand said container end wall.

2. A refrigerator cabinet including an access opening and a door forclosing said opening and including an inner wall, a plurality of storagecontainers mounted on said inner wall. one above another, and includingafirst container positioned beneath a second relatively wider container,means for pivotally supporting said first container on said inner wallfor movement between a storage position adjacent said inner wall withthe top of said first container beneath and closely adjacent the bottomof said second container and an access position spaced downwardly fromsaid second container and forwardly from said inner wall, saidsupporting means including a bracket secured to said inner door, a pairof parallel links pivotally connecting said first container to saidbracket, said links being connected to said first container above thecenter of gravity of said container and arranged so that when said firstcontainer is in said storage position said links extendupwardly fromsaid bracket and slightly over-centerin the direction of said innerwall, stop means on said bracket engaging said links for maintainingsaid first container in its access position with the links in asubstantially horizontal position, one of said links being pivotallyconnected to said container forward References Cited in the file of thispatent of the center of gravity of said container, the pivotalconnection of the other of Slid links closest to said in- UNITED STATESPATENTS ner wall with said container including a slot in said and 9,195Weston Sept. 22, 1908 wall of said container to permit limited forwardtilting 5 6 Forsthoefel Aug. 27, 1935 of said container about thepivotal connection of said 31,693 Smith Sept. 27, 1938 One of said linksand said container end wall. 94,906 Didion Nov. 23, 1954

